Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-22
ENGLISH PENhY-A-CINERS.
How They Exc Out u Miserable Exist
snCe in London


Although this is the best season of the
rcar for the pcnny-a- liner, | met one Of
The craft the other day. whom | had
known under happier circumstances, on
The. verge Of starvation. and from what he
told me Of the profession | take it that
penny aiming is not really 80 profit
able "a buSinesS-in London, anyhoAS AS
poesy.
rcnuy-a-lining Is one of those profess
sion, the embarkgtion upon which does
not involve the expenditure Of any very
large amount Of cGpital-aIl that is needed
for start being a certain number Of
''flimsicS" and blacks" with Il vulcGnite
plat" and an agate ''stylo" Armed
with these. an ability TO write more or les
legihly, and a smattering Of the queens
English very little of tie latter being re
qUired), the embryo liner may set forth
in quest Of worlls-I had almost said
words-to conquer. He must not Ike dis
appointed at discovering many in the field
before him. nor AT his earlier attempts
finding their way into the sub-editOrS' W.
p. b.. which annually receives 50 many
miles Uf what the author regarded as
most interesting copy" London is lit
orally oyerrun with these free lances Of
spuusihlc for the gray hairs and prema-
turc decay of assistant editors. All is fish
which comes To the liners net, and there
are few public events which-tO vary the
metaphor-tIo not bring grist TO his mill.
Fatal accidents, sensational suicides, hor-
rible murders, speeches by prominent
men, fires, or tas he invariably calls
them conhagratiOns-all are material for
the stylo and the film.
Great is the liner where inquests are
concerned. In most cases he fo' lows one
particular coroner and listens 10 case after
case for week after week in the full and
certain conviction that sooner or later he
will get the temporary monopoly OF some
thing very startling or horrible. London
is too big a city for the regular staff of
any paper 10 properly cover, and all the
journals of the metropolis sare more or
less dependent upon the penny a-liner,
who occasionally shamefullr imposes upon
the sub-editor when news is scarce and
money scarcer.
Liners may be divided into two classes:
First, those who are regularly engaged upon
the staff of a small suburban paper, and who
exc out the miserable stipends which local
London proprietors regard as sufficient by
Thinning anything of sufficient import
anCc for the big dailics which they may
happen to come across Ii their own dis
trict. These may be reg irded as the more
respectable half of the profession. The
somewhat shadier portion is composed o.
out-at-elbows gentlemen, broken dow1
hacks. men dismissed for drunkenness
from the higher walks of journalism, etc;
men 10 whom the nOn-insertiOn of (
par" means absolute starvation, and II
is small wonder that sub-editors are now
and then had \ party of four or five
liners gather together in bar parlOr, and
report their own vaporings over their
pipes and whisky as IAN important poliG
cal gathering" and quite recently the
dead body of q man was several times
found hanging in one of our parks which
corpse was never discovered by the park
rangers or police. Sunday papers so in
largely for inqueStS. and it would not do
for too close an inquiry to be made into
some of the particulars reported as having
taken place yesterday" while the man
ner in which liners try TO run one an
other after something of the kind is not a
little diverting. The rule of most papers
is, first come, first served; but some subs
have their favorites, who are the envy of
their less fortunate brethren.-Cor. Phila-
delphia Telegraph.